Wake up! El sol te llama.
In other news, as a general rule I think government officials should face plenty of (legitimate) scrutiny across the board. So if Inspectors General think that Hillary or her staff crossed the line with her emails, have at it.
rikyrah
so true.
so true.
………………………
Inequality Is the New Affirmative Action—for White People
It’s become the go-to populist term for white middle-class rage over the wealth gap, and another way for politicians to avoid difficult conversations about race.
By: Charles D. Ellison
Posted: July 23 2015 3:00 AM
With 2016 on the horizon, presidential candidates are all on the new policy-wonk flavor of the year: “inequality.”
And they’re using it in a heated bid to win as many white votes as they can get.
Interestingly enough, the cognoscenti once talked up the canyon-sized gaps between rich and poor as default markers for a broader conversation on the inequality we always knew: racism. Today “inequality” is an umbrella term for all sorts of unequal conditions that are in neatly constructed sociological silos: economic insecurity keeping its distance from racial inequality, even though, as policy expert Kathleen Geier correctly notes, “they are closely intertwined.”
Now it’s as if “inequality” has quickly evolved into the go-to populist expression of middle-class white voting rage—conveniently segregated from that uglier conversation on race. It’s what a largely white field of Democratic and Republican candidates now use to show authenticity when street cred is questioned.
On the left, Hillary Clinton feverishly embraces inequality when she’s viewed as too cozy with Wall Street; Bernie Sanders continues his love affair with inequality because, well, who doesn’t hate Wall Street? Even Republicans, from red-state firebrands like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to the less Tea Party-aligned such as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are clumsily fashioning themselves as proponents of the poor.
So long as you don’t mention the underserved people of color whom inequality hits the hardest. These days, “inequality” discourse has gone the way of hip-hop: co-opted. Once an exclusive narrative of black plight, anti-oppressor themes are watered down so that white electorates can feel less guilty and fearful. It’s then, for example, better to say that everyone is unequal rather than to admit #BlackLivesMatter.
theroot.com/articles/politics/2015/07/inequality_is_the_new_affirmative_action_for_white_people.html
gogol's wife
I have wore that CD out! It’s great.
Another Holocene Human
@rikyrah: So you’re saying Occupy doomed itself because it couldn’t get over its own whiteness?
Chris
Since it’s an open thread, random thoughts;
1) I recently plugged a hole in my pop culture and finally saw Pulp Fiction. … Tarantino just cast himself in that role so he could say the N-word twenty times but would still be able to sit back and go “but duuuuuuuuude, it’s not ME, it’s just a CHARACTER in a MOVIE,” didn’t he?
2) Another recently plugged hole in my pop culture; Scarface (with Pacino). It’s good until the last ten minutes, when his sister and his deputy suddenly misplace their brains and he randomly turns into the star of a Rambo movie.
NotMax
Wake up?
Just about to toddle off to beddy-bye.
gogol's wife
@Chris:
But you have to admit that “going medieval” is a great contribution to the culture at large.
Another Holocene Human
Tim–what sun? It’s overcast.
Rikyrah, this is for you:
Although African-Americans are at a lower risk of death in local jails than whites overall (largely because of the higher rate of suicide among white inmates), they face a higher risk of arrest-related death specifically. Among every 100,000 black people who are arrested, 5.6 die, compared with only 3 of every 100,000 white arrestees.
The numbers, they have been run.
NotMax
@Chris
Catch the original Scarface with Paul Muni sometime.
Trailer.
rikyrah
Exactly HOW MUCH do I love this?
…………….
Bessie Coleman Takes Flight via Audra McDonald in Tomorrow’s ‘Doc McStuffins’ Episode
Photo of Tambay A. Obenson
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
July 22, 2015 at 4:58PM
Parents will probably be familiar with “Doc McStuffins,’ the hit animated children’s television series that’s been airing since 2012 on the Disney Channel and Disney Junior.
……………………………………………
Kiara Muhammad voices the lead character, Doc McStuffins, and she’s joined by Lara Jill Miller as Lambie, Robbie Rist as Stuffy, Loretta Devine as Hallie, Jess Harnell as Chilly, Kimberly Brooks as Dr. Myiesha McStuffins (mother to Doc McStuffins) and Gary Anthony Williams as Marcus McStuffins (Doc McStuffins’ father).
Worth noting, the series also counts several African American writers and animators working on the show, which is a rarity even still today.
Tomorrow night’s episode, titled “Itty Bitty Bess Takes Flight,” airing July 23 at 9 AM ET/PT, sees Doc and the toys help a tiny tin airplane pilot named Bess – a historical toy created in the likeness of the famous African American woman pilot, Bessie Coleman – get back into shape after her joints become rusty.
Audra McDonald guest stars as Bess, and, as you’d expect, will sing a tune or two as Coleman.
youtu.be/TrY9xy-9ngA
youtu.be/OmJ62Mp4SeY
blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/bessie-coleman-takes-flight-via-audra-mcdonald-in-tomorrows-doc-mcs…
Chris
@gogol’s wife:
As was “English, motherfucker, do you speak it?”
NotMax
Couple of gritty goodies this weekend on TCM. All times Eastern.
Saturday, 3:30 a.m. Elevator to the Gallows. Louis Malle’s first film could well be described as jazz noir.
Sunday, 11:30 a.m. Man Hunt. Walter Pidgeon caught in the web of wartime fascism. George Sanders fairly oozes urbane villainy.
magurakurin
@Chris: A fun thing to do with Pulp Fiction is to watch it again, but in chronological order rather than the order that the film shows events. The scene that ends the film viewed that way actually makes a pretty good ending.
villageidiocy
Pienso que cantan “el son te llama”, no es “el sol“. Son es un tipo de musica cubana.
It sounds like the first line is saying the ‘son’ calls you to dance and enjoy.
OzarkHillbilly
@magurakurin: “Zed’s dead baby, Zed’s dead.”
gogol's wife
@villageidiocy:
Right. ETA: and it goes on “to dance and sing” (I may have it in reverse order)
gogol's wife
@villageidiocy:
You’re right, it’s “gosar,” not “cantar.” (very minimal Spanish here but I’ve listened to the song 1000 times)
ThresherK
@Chris: Call me old school, but I prefer the 1932 original. Pre-Code for the win!
+@NotMax: Beat me to it. Le sigh. I shoulda known that the studio-era movie fan population here is a pretty crowded phonebooth.
rikyrah
Sandra Bland’s voicemail from jail was ‘haunting,’ says the friend who released it
July 23, 2015
It had been days since LaVaughn Mosley had been told his friend, Sandra Bland, died in her Texas jail cell. He looked at his phone — two missed calls, and a voicemail buried in the dozens he keeps on his phone.
“I’m still just at a loss for words honestly at this whole process,” Mosley heard Bland say. “How did switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this, I don’t even know.”
latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-sandra-bland-voicemail-friend-20150723-story.html
Another Holocene Human
On LGF re: police brutality, the commenters quipped, “The system isn’t broken. It’s fixed.”
Another Holocene Human
@rikyrah: Gah. I have no words.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: Doesn’t ring very true to me. Here’s why:
It should be the “new policy-wonk flavor of the year” since wealth inequality is at Gilded Age levels. The focus on wealth inequality on the left wasn’t invented to distract anyone from addressing racial inequality — it’s a legitimate issue that every one of us who isn’t named “Walton” or “Gates” should be concerned about.
Of course they’re closely intertwined, and I don’t see any sane white liberals saying otherwise. The author who is griping about policies to address wealth inequality as if that detracts from efforts to address racial inequality is the one who seems to be denying they are intertwined.
The reason every candidate is addressing wealth inequality is because it’s a huge and growing crisis, but it’s particularly facile to equate the Democratic and Republican responses as the author does. That’s both-sides-do-it-ism on par with David Broder.
If the author is claiming the Democrats aren’t mentioning POC in the context of wealth inequality discussions, he’s wildly misinformed. Bernie Sanders in particular mentions how much harder hit black folks are economically — and gets criticized for focusing too much on economics.
This isn’t a zero-sum game: Black Lives Matter. Structural racism needs to be rooted out of the system. The rich are screwing the rest of us and blighting our country’s future. All of these things are true.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: I am avoiding listening to it. It is a heartbreak I can do without.
Another Holocene Human
@Betty Cracker: Look around you. The economy is improving. I see commercial buildings going up everywhere, trucks all over the road, people jumping jobs for more pay, and apparently people buying all the houses as well.
But Black people are still getting killed on the streets by out of control cops. The issues there are deep and won’t just be solved by progressive income taxes. (Note: I am a big fan of progressive income tax.)
And part of the problem is us. White people. Most of us see no problem–nope, no problem here–like BobS who was just asking questions about my credibility with respect to workplace bias I am dealing with every day as a union steward. Or guachi, who thinks Sandra Bland should have been nicer to that ossifer of the wal. We are a big fat block who owns all the things (thanks, Homestead Act!) and won’t let progress happen because we refuse to believe there’s a problem in the first place.
wasabi gasp
Guillermo Rubalcaba – Piano Y Violin
Gin & Tonic
@ThresherK: Call me a wuss, but the Pacino version is the only film I’ve ever see that I unqualifiedly called “obscene.”
Uncle Cosmo
Erm, about that NYT “story”…
There is a GOS diary (currently front-paged) that deconstructs the “story” & shows that (1) the OIG’s concern was with DoS’s handling of the review of HRC’s e-mails after she turned them over & (2) the substance of that concern was that no classified information be revealed.
IOW it has fuck-all to do with anything Clinton did or did not do.
IOW the “story” is nothing but a fairytale & HRC hit-piece.
Anyone who wants to know what its lead fabulist is full of should take Michael S. Schmidt’s last name & remove every other letter starting with the “c”. And also note that the proper pronunciation of his co-fabulist’s last name is A-Putz-Oh. A shit & a putz, oh–sounds about right for this garbage.
ruemara
@Betty Cracker: That’s how you see it & that’s fine, but you’re not black. We’ve watched the rising tide lift all boats, but ours lift least and seen that pretty much be glossed over. Now that the taste of blackness has extended to our levels of economic growth; goddammit, wealth inequality is a problem we must all fight. Oh, welcome to the fire. And this is not because Sanders does not mention blacks disproportionately suffering; it’s because he says that then offers an economic solution to a structural problem. It was and is tone deaf. We’re still invisible if you can’t look at what we’re saying about our lives in this country and can’t back away from the boilerplate to directly address our concerns as we see it. I may not fully agree with everything the writer says, but I do see where he’s coming from. And in really not thinking too much about black people, yes both sides have and continue to do it. One just is more guilty of a benign neglect due to a generally beneficial policy that has improved things for everyone, just not at the same rate. Just a respectful disagreement.
Prepping for a day arguing to get my suspended policy changed to something affordable. People are advising me to sue the airline, but, that seems a touch extreme. Suing seems like something you do if you can find a real fault not for a million to one injury.
Betty Cracker
@ruemara:
This is true, and I am not going to pretend I will ever understand what it’s like. I do think it’s important for Democrats to say black lives matter unequivocally and offer specifics on how they would address structural racism. Any candidate who refuses to do that does not deserve our support. The Republicans damn sure won’t, but I think the Democrats are starting to, which is a good thing. Best of luck with your airline battle.
Alex
Another link on how the NYT story is inaccurate – msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/new-allegations-clinton-emails-start-unravel
I’d say it raises questions about who is leaking the information and what the goal is, but we already have the answer for that — twitter.com/mmcauliff/status/624597672519860224
BobS
@Another Holocene Human: Your hyperbolic language suggesting “white males” (plural) are getting a pass when they “instigate fights” (which is commonly interpreted as referring to physical altercations) is why I have reason to question your credibility. There’s no workplace in America where assault and battery is tolerated the way you wanted people to believe. Your legitimate point could have been made without the exaggerating.
Another Holocene Human
Wow, I always liked Wyatt Cenac, but listening to his interview with Maron on WTF and he’s talking about his mom … it’s like he’s talking about my life. This is really deep for me.
Cenac seems to in some ways try to understand and forgive his mom. I’m not there. I don’t get it. I never have.
Another Holocene Human
@BobS: You can instigate a fight using words. Just because the other person swung first doesn’t mean you didn’t start the shit that went down.
Hell yeah it’s happened where I work. Infrequently, but it happens.
BobS
@Another Holocene Human: So in other words “white males” have “infrequently” provoked co-workers with poor self control.
Another Holocene Human
I’m not making shit up, BobS. This shit really happened. Find it ridiculous, also my managers? Join the club.
Another Holocene Human
@BobS: And management handled that differently from when black females instigated stuff. That’s just a fact. I could pull the records and pile them in a stack if I wanted to.
Aleta
THANKS for all the music !
Aleta
@BobS: I have heard similar stories in confidence from a relative who is a processing plant manager.
BobS
@Another Holocene Human: So “white males”…”are allowed to”…”instigate fights”…”infrequently” or often enough to create such voluminous files you could “pile them in a stack”?
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
The degree to which some white people feel either guilt or fear is very much overrated.
@BobS
There’s no workplace in America where assault and battery is tolerated the way you wanted people to believe. Your legitimate point could have been made without the exaggerating.
Your naivete is really touching.
rikyrah
Larry Wilmore on Sandra Bland: Black people have to act like the Dowager Countess to avoid police brutality
Travis Gettys
24 Jul 2015 at 07:46 ET
Larry Wilmore tackled the baffling death of Sandra Bland — who Texas police say hung herself in jail three days after she was arrested during a traffic stop for a minor violation.
The host of Comedy Central’s “Nightly Show” said the state trooper continually escalated the situation, first by sarcastically asking if she was finished complaining after he asked whether she was irritated, and then asking her to put out the cigarette she was lawfully smoking in her car.
‘Are you done’ isn’t how you finish something — ‘are you done’ is how you start something,” Wilmore said.
He then played a lengthy portion of the dashcam video, which shows the state trooper become increasingly aggressive after Bland refuses to put out thee cigarette and then asks why she is being ordered out of her vehicle.
“Here’s what I saw: I saw a woman who was very irritated and probably having a bad day, most likely because she was pulled over, smoking a cigarette to calm down, complying with everything the officer asked for,” Wilmore said. “Then it got confusing because he told her to put out her cigarette but then offered to light her up by pointing a Taser at her head. To me and most reasonable people, it’s clear that this officer was wrong.”
rawstory.com/2015/07/larry-wilmore-on-sandra-bland-black-people-have-to-act-like-the-dowager-countes…
BobS
@Aleta: I believe there is racial and gender bias in workplace discipline, although it should be minimized in an organized shop where the union is functioning competently. I don’t believe that “white males” are terrorizing Another Holocene Human’s workplace by their being “allowed to” routinely act “super angry”, “explosively yell at people with little provocation”, and especially “instigate fights”.
schrodinger's cat
@rikyrah: I have to disagree. Income inequality affects everyone who is making their living by wages, not rents. The last 30 or 35 years have been great for rentiers and bad for everyone else. Incomes have stagnated across the board. There is an overlap between economic and social justice issues. They are not mutually exclusive. We need both for a prosperous society.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
I can’t watch the video of the traffic stop.
BobS
@Brachiator Where is it where employees are allowed to batter each other with impunity? Does it occur where you work? I’ve worked at a variety of places dating back to the early 70’s and have never experienced it. My dad has stories from the auto plant going back 40 or 50 years ago, but it’s not happening there anymore. Where are these places my “naivete” prevents me from being aware of?
gogol's wife
@rikyrah:
I can’t either. Just reading about it makes me hyperventilate.
Brachiator
@Another Holocene Human:
I was listening to the Maron interview with Ian McKellan during my morning commute. I think I will cue this podcast up next. Thanks for the indirect recommendation.
Alex
Also, the investigation into classified emails handled by Hillary Clinton (which were probably not classified at the time) is not a criminal investigation.
Good job New York Times!
Brachiator
@BobS:
Instigating a fight is not the same thing as “employees allowed to batter each other with impunity.”
And you keep trying to argue from personal anecdote. This is just not meaningful.
gian
@rikyrah:
A great way to not build a coalition. For example the austerity programs for government employees hit the black middle class harder than other races. Fighting that can be a common cause with others, but only if everyone fights together
BobS
@Brachiator: You were touched by my “naivete” in a comment where I very specifically asked about the occurrence of “assault and battery” being “tolerated” – you’ve now moved the goalpost. In the context where it was initially used, “instigate fights” suggested workplace violence.
Unless you have something else, anecdotes are what most of these comment threads consist of regardless of topic (for instance, your anecdotal estimation of white people’s “guilt”). I was initially responding to what I still believe is Another Holocene Human’s exaggerated anecdotes of “white males’ running wild.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
I haven’t much commented on this story because it is just too crazy-making. Especially because some who automatically defend the police just cannot see what is right in front of their faces. Here is a bit from the 7.23 Bill Handel talk radio show, the most popular drive time show in Los Angeles, around 6 am. Yeah, I had to write this down.
For these people, the only thing that Bland should have done was to absolutely comply with every command that the cop made, and to do so as meekly and obediently as possible. Anything less was defiance that could be punished in any way that the officer wanted, because only cop’s lives matter.
Paul in KY
@BobS: You must work in some crazy place. I never took ‘instigate fights’ (in an office environment) to mean physical fights.
Now, if AHH had said he worked as a lumberjack or roofer, I might have thought differently.
Paul in KY
@BobS: Is your job title: Investigator of Spurious Complaints Against White Males?! If so, you are doing a bang up job. If not, you are being a wanker.
gian
@Paul in KY:
A bar bouncer in a port city?
Paul in KY
@gian: That’s another one. Mob henchman would be another.
Germy Shoemangler
bar bouncer in a port city
Mob henchman
Cat herder
Weasel wrangler
Snake venom milker
balloon-juice moderator
Gin & Tonic
@Germy Shoemangler: balloon-juice moderator
Ha! Now I know you’re just making shit up.
Paul in KY
@Germy Shoemangler: Weasel Wrangler! Would make a funny Simpsons skit.
BobS
@Paul in KY: What does it pay (Spurious c/o Investigator, that is – wanking seems to be pretty competitive among some of you and I wouldn’t pretend to be nearly as qualified)?
Paul in KY
@BobS: Good one, Bob! Modesty becomes you. I’d say you are overqualified for the wanking, but anyway, an ISCWAM is a volunteer position & the pay you would receive is the grateful thanks of dingbats such as yourself.
rikyrah
@ruemara:
for the ‘economic solution’, I once again present Mr. Bougie himself, Lawrence Otis Graham.
Will repeat that, between he and his wife, they have FOUR HARVARD DEGREES.
youtu.be/EfeS-GYnuj0
And, I ask again…
What WHITE couple with FOUR HARVARD DEGREES, does this remotely cross their mind to think, let alone mouths to voice?
A guy
No lives matter. Only that of yours and your family. And if you can’t preserve them, thanks for coming out